Sixth Circuit Upholds Graphic Cigarette Labels

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati broadly upheld a law requiring tobacco companies to display large warning images on cigarette packs, in a key victory for the federal government in its anti-smoking campaign.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the labels “serve as disclaimers to the public regarding the incontestable health consequences of using tobacco” and do not unconstitutionally restrict tobacco companies’ speech.

The tobacco companies came away with an important victory, too. The court struck down a provision of the law barring them from using color or imagery in their advertisements, calling it “vastly overbroad.”

The warning labels, a requirement of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, have been the subject of closely watched litigation elsewhere. . .